


Matt Murdock versus Border Control

by rosydays



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Airports, Attempt at Humor, F/M, Frank Castle (mentioned) - Freeform, Human Disaster Matt Murdock, Immigration & Emigration, M/M, Minor Frank Castle/Karen Page, Post-Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 16:35:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30041607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosydays/pseuds/rosydays
Summary: “Am I under arrest?”, asks Matt.(In which Matt has his first experience of international travel)
Relationships: Matt Murdock/Franklin "Foggy" Nelson
Comments: 6
Kudos: 41





	Matt Murdock versus Border Control

**Author's Note:**

> This is working from my own experience of both UK and US customs, so it's entirely my fault if anything is glaringly wrong. Either suspend your disbelief or let me know! 
> 
> CN:  
> Discussion of immigration issues. Very brief mention of cancer. See end note if you need more detail.

Matt has never left the US. Hell, he’s barely left New York. But Nelson, Murdock and Page have an actual paying client whose grandson is being deported from the UK through some horrific bureaucratic tangle involving incorrectly filed paperwork from his employer. Nelson, Murdock and Page are not immigration lawyers, they have made this abundantly clear. But Mrs Jennings only has one grandson. She raised him, supported him, encouraged him to claw his way out of Hell’s Kitchen. And now he’s a chemist at some pharma company in Birmingham.

The boy (man now) sends money, visits when he can, but Mrs J is getting on these days, she can’t really leave her house now, much less New York. Mrs J loves the boy and worries his visa problems are her fault. See, he had to take a year out, a while back, to look after her when the cancer took a real turn. The pharma company, the lawyer he spoke to, they promised it wouldn’t ruin his UK work permit. But now – oh God – he’s going to be deported. And she can’t go herself, but she can send at least a bit of extra help.

Which is how Foggy and Matt end up agreeing to a UK trip. They’ve talked to the grandson’s actual lawyer. They are all fairly certain there’s not much the US folk can add. But they can’t dissuade Mrs J, so they’re going to England. Until Foggy’s parents catch flu and Matt’s faced with the somewhat daunting task of solo international travel. Damn it, he’d only agreed to this whole debacle because Foggy wanted them to make something of a holiday out of it.

*****

“Think of it as our honeymoon, Matt”. They’re in bed. In bed together in the apartment they have so recently begun to share. Foggy’s hand cupping his cheek. Foggy’s breath hot on his ear. And, uh-hum, that’s an effective tactic, counsellor.

A few days later, they’ve just arrived at work. Matt is favouring his right side and Foggy isn’t tense, but his voice has been pensive all morning. “Think of it as both of us needing a clean break, just for a few days, hmm Matt”.

Slurring slightly at Josies, “Come on, Matt, I’ve always wanted to see the sights of Brighton!”

“I think it’s Birmingham, Fogs”.

Karen says, “Go, do you really think I can’t manage without the pair of you for a week? And I’m sure the Kitchen will be just fine”. And then she shoes them away and messages - probably Frank. Matt decides plausible deniability is the better part of valour.

So of course, Matt isn’t going to say no. His friends have stuck with him through so much, forgiven so much. He’s trying to learn to give them bits of happiness back –and to relearn allowing himself some happiness with them.

*****

Foggy is the only sibling who can go upstate to take care of his parents on short notice. Matt really wants to cancel but they agree they cannot let Mrs J down. She has been on the phone with them twice in the last day alone, making sure there have been no changes of plan. She sounds frail and worried.

JFK is a nightmare. Matt did not expect to have to navigate it alone. He is forced to ask for assistance so many times that they eventually just sit him on a little indoor vehicle, drive him some unspecified distance and deposit him at what they assure him is the correct gate. All of these bloody signs that he has no way of reading, he only knows they’re there because he can hear electronic hums coming from large near ceiling billboards and a lot of people are standing around looking up. And the whole airport echoes with bodiless voices repeating the same announcements again and again.

Thankfully, the flight is less traumatic. He can block out most of the airplane sounds as white noise and he’s used to ignoring far more people than his fellow passengers. Beyond that, it is actually unusually peaceful. There is no sound beyond the bounds of this tube as it cuts a path through the unknown sky.

*****

He cannot fly directly to Birmingham so he is in Heathrow. The UK lawyer has promised she will send someone to meet Matt. She’s said she might even make it herself. All Matt has to do is get through customs then-

Oh no. 

*****

Matt is sitting in a small room that is not quite square. The officer standing outside the room refuses to talk to him. He asks for a phone call – silence. He asks to be allowed to call his lawyer – some shuffling. He asks for water – footsteps walking towards his door as the woman outside moves aside.

“Am I under arrest?”, asks Matt, as soon as the new woman steps inside.

“No, Mr Nelson-“, Matt startles, “-but I need to ask you some questions. I’m Officer Brent and we have concerns regarding the documents you’re using to enter the UK. So, Mr Nelson-”

“I’m not Mr Nelson”, exclaims Matt, “I’m Matthew Murdock, one of your staff took my passport, don’t you have it?”

“The passport I have, Mr – Murdock – you say, belongs to one Franklin Nelson. Franklin Nelson is recorded as a passenger on flight UA0037. Franklin Nelson left the US from JFK eight hours ago”.

Matt wants so badly to put his head in his hands and wait until this all goes away. He tries to explain. He is rebuffed.

“But how were you able to board the flight, Mr Murdock?”

“I don’t know”, says Matt, frustration building, “I’m blind. I asked for assistance. I think they just wanted to get me on the right plane”.

“But Mr Murdock, why do you have Mr Nelson’s passport in the first place?”

“I didn’t know it was his passport! We live together. We were supposed to travel together. I took the documents he gave me”.

“And you didn’t think to check?”

Matt tries to stare incredulously in her direction.

*****

They refuse to release him. He can hear them talking in another room. They do not know what to do with him. In the distance, he hears his phone ringing several times

“Foggy, Foggy, Foggy”.

He does put his head in his hands.

*****

Several hours later, with (they tell him) an emergency passport clutched to his chest, he is shepherded to the waiting UK lawyer.

When Matt returns to the US, Karen adds a short update to her newly created Nelson, Murdock and Page website.

_Murdock has recently aided in preventing the deportation of two US citizens from the UK to the US. Through this case, he has gained extensive experience with both the UK border force and the US embassy. He enjoyed worked with excellent lawyers from ‘South Birmingham Law’. Our client was thrilled with this outcome and told us “I’ll be recommending you to my neighbours, you’ve all been the very best”._

_In other news, Nelson, Murdock and Page are gathering information relating to ADA (American’s with disabilities act) compliance issues at JFK airport. If you have any information or experience with this issue, please get in touch._

_(Nelson, Murdock and Page are unlikely to take further cases relating to UK immigration issues, however please head here for more information regarding our areas of expertise and contact details)._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Longer CN:  
> Discussion of deportation, happening to a person who has lived in another country for a long time, due to complex admin stuff.  
> Scene where Matt is detained at a border and it is implied that he faces being denied entry to a country.  
> Both of these issues are happily resolved and no deportation occurs.  
> Passing mention of a minor character having cancer, implied that she recovers from this though is now frail/ old.


End file.
